Sturgis v. Department of Corrections

96 A.3d 445, 2014 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 368
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 18, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 96 A.3d 445 (Sturgis v. Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sturgis v. Department of Corrections, 96 A.3d 445, 2014 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 368 (Pa. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Judge BROBSON.

Petitioner Larry Sturgis petitions for review pro se of a final determination of the Office of Open Records (OOR), dated December 20, 2013, denying his request for records, specifically his sentencing order, held by the Department of Corrections (DOC). DOC denied the request on the basis that the requested record did not exist. We now affirm.

Petitioner is an inmate currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas (SCI-Dallas). Petitioner filed a request with DOC pursuant to the Right to Know Law,1 requesting that DOC provide him with a copy of his judgment of sentence. DOC’s Agency Open Records Officer Andrew Filkosky denied Petitioner’s RTKL request on the basis that the record requested does not currently exist and that, pursuant to Section 705 of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.705, DOC is not required to create a record. Petitioner appealed to OOR, challenging the denial. DOC responded by submitting to OOR an attestation of Diane Yale, Records Supervisor at SCI-Dallas, made subject to the penalty of perjury. Ms. Yale swore to the non-existence of Petitioner’s judgment of sentence within DOC’s possession. Thereafter, OOR determined that, through the submission of Ms. Yale’s attestation, DOC met its burden to prove that it does not possess the record sought in Petitioner’s request.

[446]*446On appeal to this Court, Petitioner argues that OOR erred in denying his appeal because DOC failed to meet its burden to prove that it does not currently possess the record sought in the request. Petitioner contends that, pursuant to Section 1101(c) of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.1101(c), DOC was required “to notify a Third Party Law Enforcement Records Local Agency of the County where [he] was prosecuted, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office regarding access to his judgment of sentence as to whether or not said records were in said Local Agency’s possession at the time of [his RTKL] request,” and DOC failed to do so. Petitioner misconstrues the provisions of the RTKL.

Pursuant to the RTKL, a public record must be accessible for inspection and duplication. Section 701(a) of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.701(a). A record in the possession of an agency, such as DOC in this case, is presumed to be a public record, unless the record is exempt under Section 708 of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.708, protected by a privilege, or exempt from disclosure under other law or court order. See Section 305(a) of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.305(a). The agency bears the burden to prove that a record is exempt from public access. See Section 708(a)(1) of the RTKL. Section 705 of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.705, provides: “When responding to a request for access, an agency shall not be required to create a record which does not currently exist or to compile, maintain, format or organize a record in a manner in which the agency does not currently compile, maintain, format or organize the record.”

In Moore v. Office of Open Records, 992 A.2d 907 (Pa.Cmwlth.2010), this Court considered a similar request by an inmate (Moore) to DOC for a judgment of sentence and DOC’s denial of the request. DOC supported its denial with both sworn and unsworn affidavits that DOC did not have in its records Moore’s judgment of sentence. We explained that DOC’s provision of the affidavit was sufficient to satisfy its responsibilities under the RTKL:

Moore’s sole argument on appeal is that [DOC’s] statement that a judgment of sentence does not currently exist leads him to believe that such a record must have existed at some time and, therefore, either [DOC] or ... OOR has a duty to produce the record under the RTKL. However, Moore misinterprets the statutory language, specifically, the use of the word “currently” as used in Section 705 of the RTKL, stating that “an agency shall not be required to create a record which does not currently exist.” 65 P.S. § 67.705. Under this provision, whether or not a judgment of sentence existed at some point in time is not the proper standard — the standard is whether such a record is in existence and in possession of the Commonwealth agency at the time of the right-to-know request. [DOC] searched its records and submitted both sworn and unsworn affidavits that it was not in possession of Moore’s judgment of sentence — that such a record does not currently exist. These statements are enough to satisfy [DOC’s] burden of demonstrating the non-existence of the record in question, and obviously [DOC] cannot grant access to a record that does not exist. [] Because under the current RTKL [DOC] cannot be made to create a record which does not exist, ... OOR properly denied Moore’s appeal.

Moore, 992 A.2d at 909 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted). In the case now before the Court and consistent with its actions denying the RTKL request in Moore, DOC provided an unsworn attestation and sworn affidavit that it had examined its records and determined that it did not possess Petitioner’s order of judgment.

[447]*447Nevertheless, Petitioner appears to argue that Section 1101(c) of the RTKL requires DOC, when an inmate requests from DOC an order of judgment that DOC does not possess, to contact local law enforcement agencies to obtain the order of judgment from the local law enforcement agency. We disagree. Section 1101 of the RTKL, relating to filing an appeal, sets forth the process for appealing an agency’s denial or a deemed denial of a RTKL request. It authorizes a requester to “file an appeal with [OOR] or other appeals officer designated under section 503(d) [of the RTKL] within 15 business days of the mailing date of the agency’s response or within 15 business days of a deemed denial.” Section 1101(a) of the RTKL, 65 P.S. § 67.1101(a). It further provides that, “[e]xcept as provided in section 503(d) [of the RTKL], in the case of an appeal of a decision by a Commonwealth agency or local agency, [OOR] shall assign an appeals officer to review the denial.” Id. Section 1101(c) of the RTKL, to which Petitioner refers, provides:

(c) Direct interest.—
(1) A person other than the agency or requester with a direct interest in the record subject to an appeal under this section may, within 15 days following receipt of actual knowledge of the appeal but no later than the date the appeals officer issues an order, file a written request to provide information or to appear before the appeals officer or to file information in support of the requester’s or agency’s position.
(2) The appeals officer may grant a request under paragraph (1) if:
(i) no hearing has been held;
(ii) the appeals officer has not yet issued its order; and
(iii) the appeals officer believes the information will be probative.
(3)Copies of the written request shall be sent to the agency and the requester.

Thus, Section 1101(c) provides a person who has a direct interest in the RTKL request an opportunity to participate in the appeal process under certain circumstances. Nothing in Section 1101(c) requires DOC to notify another agency regarding a request in an attempt to obtain a record that it does not currently possess.

Petitioner also points to our decision in Allegheny County Department of Administrative Services v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
96 A.3d 445, 2014 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sturgis-v-department-of-corrections-pacommwct-2014.